


Welcome to the Family

by Em_is_here



Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Employment, F/M, Mentions of past abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-10-28 09:13:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17784641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Em_is_here/pseuds/Em_is_here
Summary: A fic inspired by Kelly House by TheStoriesWontStop on A03. This is where Greta and Annie meet and are taken in by Katherine and Jack.





	1. Elmer has a good idea

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Kelly House](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16145399) by [TheStoriesWontStop](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStoriesWontStop/pseuds/TheStoriesWontStop). 



> Firstly, I would like to thank TheStoriesWontStop for letting me write in their universe. There was a lot of pressure on me to do my job properly and you should definitely read everything they've ever written, but especially Kelly House.
> 
> Enjoy

Every day on her way back from the rounds she did collecting clothes to stitch and wash, Annie’s mother bought a paper from the newsie on the corner. He’d gotten so used to it that he kept one especially for her. Her ma had even invited him to dinner a couple of times, when money wasn’t so tight and her father hadn’t been home.

The only time she had ever gone more than two days without buying a paper is when Annie’s father had died in a brawl and the funeral arrangements and costs had meant that she couldn’t buy a paper for a week. 

During that week, the first abuse free week of Annie’s life, she had been sent down by her mother with a slice of bread for the newsie every day. Her ma had said that even though we can’t spare a penny, we can spare a slice of bread for a boy who needs it.

That had been a few months ago. Today she had again been sent down to the newsie with a slice of bread instead of a penny, but today Annie talked to him as they sat a careful distance apart and he ate.

“It’s not fair Elmer! I want to keep going to school!”

“Why can’t ya, Annie?”

“Ma says that she can’t afford to keep sending me to school and that I have to earn some money or we can’t eat and keep the apartment. It’s why I’ve got food for you rather than money for a paper.”

“I don’t care, Annie, both fill my belly.”

“I’d still rather buy a paper from you, I get to read it and then draw on it. If I give you food, I’ve got nothing to draw and write on.”

Elmer chuckled at that, and asked the girl what she was going to do to earn the money that she and her mother needed. Factory work, she replied. She might be old enough, but he was damned if he was going to let Annie work in a factory.

It took him until he had sold his last paper to remember that Katherine, while an accomplished writer and journalist, could NOT do housework. And another five minutes to remember why that was so important to him. Greta! Greta needed work and a place to stay, somewhere that would allow Annie to both stay with her and go to school. If Katherine would take her on…..

He practically ran to Jack and Kat’s house, a place that had become known to the newsies as Kelly House. It was eight by the time he got there, and while it was a little late to be turning up at anyone’s door unannounced, Elmer knew that neither of them would mind his late and sudden arrival.

He all but burst through the kitchen door, shouting for Jack and Kat who were sitting in the parlour, on a rare day when there was no one else there. 

Elmer swiftly explained exactly what the situation was and his idea for Greta to become their housekeeper.

Katherine was the first to reply with “Well, that would certainly solve our problem of me having no idea how to run a household, and it sounds like we would very much be helping out a family in need. Do you have any objections Jack?” She asked sweetly and with just a hint of sarcasm. Kat knew that Jack had lived long enough with her cooking and cleaning that he had accepted the need for a housekeeper, Charles helped when he could but the man was a manservant/butler/companion, not a housekeeper.

Jack just shook his head.

“Perfect, Elmer, could you take me to her tomorrow? When does she get home?”

“She gets home ‘bout three in the afternoon, I can take you to her after then.”

“I’ll be at your selling spot at half six, just as soon as I get out from work.” Then after a slight pause “Would you like to stay here tonight, Elmer? It’s too late for you to be going out.”

“If ya don’t mind...”

Jack watched his wife lead his brother upstairs to make him a bed for the night. He loved that woman with all of his heart. Instead of tutting at a visitor so late in the night, one that let himself in, he might add, Kat had listened to his story and had then offered a woman she had never met a possible job and then offered a street kid a bed for the night. Admittedly, that last one had become usual with most nights seeing a newsie at their house but still, it was a strange thing for a woman born so high as his wife to be willing to do. They had talked about asking some of the newsies to stay permanently, but had decided against asking them to avoid being seen as trying to control their lives. They both wished that the boys they loved so much would allow them to care for them, but the newsies were a proud lot and the Kellys could only do so much.

 

As promised, Katherine found Elmer at his selling spot at half six, where she saw him talking to a young girl with a slice of bread in her hands. She saw the girl’s careful distance from Elmer and how she handed the bread to him before quickly taking a few steps backward. Clearly, the girl was used to, but skittish in his presence.

Kat announced her arrival with a loud and cheerful, “Elmer!” The girl jumped up and hid herself behind the boy in a flash.

“Heya Kat, this’s Annie,” gesturing to the girl behind him, “She’s Greta’s daughter.”

“Have you told them about our proposition?”

“Not yet, but I was getting’ there.” He swivelled himself to face the girl, “the lady’s name ‘s Katherine, or Kat and she wants to give your ma a job ‘s her housekeeper.”

The girl’s gaze moved from Elmer to Kat back to Elmer, unblinking and speechless.

“Ya hear me, Annie-girl?”  
A barely perceptible nod.

“Good, can ya go tell your ma that Kat’s here an’ why? Tell her that if she isn’t back here in thirty minutes, we’ll assume that she don’t want the job, okay?”

Here Kat cut in, “if she changes her mind, just ask Elmer to show you the way to my house.”

Another nod, stronger this time.

“’Kay, you run home on now and tell your ma.”

The girl turned and ran.

Elmer’s next words were said to Kat, but he was still looking at where Annie was going.  
“They lives ‘bout a five minute walk away, but at tha’ pace she’ll be there in two. If you’re willing to wait with me for thir’y minutes I’m sure they’ll be back”

“I am always happy to sit with one of my boys for half an hour, Elmer. I do hope she comes, we very much need her.”

“They needs the money, that’s for sure. I couldn’t see Annie leave school t’ work in a factory. She’s got too good a head to do tha’.”

They hadn’t even waited for ten minutes when Annie reappeared, dragging a woman behind her. The pair waved at the mother and daughter as Katherine watched how Greta approached them, with Annie tucked behind her and appraising her as though she were a dangerous predator. It was easy to concoct various terrible and likely lives for this small family and Katherine hoped that she would be able to ease that suffering.

“Who are you?” The woman asked. She was blunt and Katherine knew almost immediately that she would like her.

“I am Katherine Kelly, I assume you are the Greta that Elmer was talking about?”  
A proud nod as a confirmation, like mother like daughter. “I assume that Annie here has already told you my purpose, I am looking for a housekeeper for my house, on Chambers Street, and I think that you would be a good fit. You would need to run the household, because I do not have the skills for it, including cooking and cleaning. You and your daughter could live with us as we have the appropriate rooms available or you could live somewhere else if you found that necessary.”

Greta had a brief moment of shock before schooling her features. “I would like to see the house before I agree to anything, if I may?”

“Of course, would now be a convenient time for you, or should I ask Elmer to show you the house another time?”

“Now would be a good time, miss.”

“Kat, please. Now, follow me!”

As Kat led the way back to the house, she wondered if Greta and Annie’s reactions would be the same as the ones that the boys had had. As they arrived, Kat led the other two up to the kitchen door, having left Elmer to sell his last few papers and join them later. 

She was greeted by Crutchie and Romeo, who had decided to eat at their house. 

“I had quite forgotten, Greta, my husband’s friends are newsies. They are here often and frequently eat and sleep here. If you were to take the job, you would frequently be providing for ten hungry street kids at lunch and sometimes dinner. Would that be a problem for you?”

Greta wasn’t quite sure of what to make of the house and its inhabitants. Here you had a young and obviously wealthy woman whose husband consorted with street children and not only did she permit this, it sounded like she actively encouraged it. She was pulled out of her haze by Katherine adding in a soft voice:  
“Elmer is one of them.”

This made her decision for her. “No miss, that would not be a problem at all.” At least this way she could provide for some of the children she wished she could help.

 

Elmer arrived after Greta and Annie had had the full tour. 

“Well Annie, d’ya like it?”

“It was amazing Elmer! There was a toilet indoors and everything!”

“I knows kid, we was all pretty excited ‘bout it too. Greta, youse gonna take the job?”

“I have to have a conversation with Miss Katherine and Mr Jack first, Elmer. But my hopes are high.”

It was then that Jack walked into the room. “I assume that conversation will be about wages and such? Would you like some coffee?”

It was Crutchie that piped up then from his place at the table. “It ain’t polite t’ go offering coffee when you can’t make it Jackie”

“Shuddup Crutch.”

Greta rolled her eyes. “Where’s your coffee and coffee pot?”

Ten minutes later, every single person in that house was begging for Greta to please come and stay with them forever. Evidently, Katherine had not been exaggerating when she talked about her complete inability to do housework.

“So, Greta, would you like to stay here or have another apartment? You could have any bedroom you wanted, although there are two very convenient ones through there,” Kat pointed to a door in the back of the room, “that would work very well for you and Annie.” 

Here Katherine had to breach a difficult subject. "Greta, there is something else. We have my childhood, well...nanny living with us. Charles." Greta had a visible reaction to that, she was clearly hesitant to take the job now that she knew Charles would be living there. Katherine continued, "he is staying with my father for the next few days, so you can get used to us before meeting him. But I promise you, you have nothing to fear from him. If anything does happen to you or Annie because of him while you are living here, you must tell me or Jack and he will be out before the end of the day."

While still apprehensive, Greta was clearly accepting of this arrangement.

“I think that staying here would be very convenient and it would reduce spending on rent and such. It would also mean that I wasn’t cleaning two houses.”

After confirming all of that, Jack told Greta how much she would be paid.

“That can’t be right, it’s too much!”

“Greta, I never told you who my family is, did I? My father is Joseph Pulitzer and my mother is wealthy in her own right. We can afford and want to pay you that much.”  
A predictable and shocked response to that particular nugget of information. Kat and Jack had gotten quite used to recounting the strike and their lives afterwards to explain how an American princess had married a newsboy and they told the story well.

“So mama, will you take the job?”

Greta thought for a moment. It was clearly the best paying job she’d ever get that would provide a roof over her head and though she would never admit it out loud, a family for Annie. She was concerned about the number of males in the house however and it made her ask for two weeks probationary while she saw whether or not she wanted to continue.

“Of course Greta, whatever you need. Welcome to the family.”


	2. Greta makes a decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We follow Greta through the day she decides whether she'll stay at Kelly House.

A few days into her probationary period, Greta was making lunch for the newsies, there was usually about ten of them who came for a good, hot and free meal. Today was a thick soup and bread and she was stirring a huge pot full of enough soup for roughly ten hungry young boys. She always made more than strictly necessary because any leftovers could be taken home by boys with families or kept for another day. She also dreaded the possibility that the day would come when she didn’t make enough for everyone and one of her boys would leave the house hungry. She could not allow that.

Her boys.

When did they become my boys?

Greta had absolutely no idea. In a few days, a strange and rather rowdy (even for newsies) group of street kids had become her boys! 

So what if she was a little choked up when ten minutes later eleven boys came thundering into her kitchen, clamouring for their lunch. So what if she could barely find the voice to tell them to sit down and eat like people, rather than animals. 

Only Elmer noticed the change and asked if she was okay.

“Yes dear, I am perfectly fine. Now eat your lunch,” she said with a smile that filled her watering eyes.

She had gotten used to the boys asking her to stay permanently over the past few days, but it still softened her heart every time she heard it.

She thought about it while she was cleaning the stove after the boys had left to sell the lunchtime edition. Working here provided the job security she needed and a lovely place to live for both her and Annie. It also meant that Annie could continue going to school, although the school she would move to here looked as though it sucked some of the life out of the children who went in there. 

Her head took her back to the first night she had spent here. 

She had prepared a meal for Jack and Katherine, cleaned up the dining room table and served them before retreating to the kitchen so she and Annie could eat. Twenty minutes later, Jack and Katherine had come into the kitchen with their empty plates and cutlery, rinsed them and left them in the sink.

She had been horrified, that was her job, and her mouth was still open in shock when Jack spoke.

“We thought we’d find ya in here. Greta, ya don’t need to set an’ clear away two tables. We c’n eat wi’ you.”

What followed was a lengthy conversation about her role within the house. They were paying her to cook and clean for them, it was true, but they would do anything they could to make her job easier for her. Essentially, she would be part of the family. She could go where she wanted, act how she wanted to. If she wanted to sit with them in the parlour she could, everyone would eat in either the kitchen or the dining room but they would eat together.

At first she objected, seeing that as not being at all proper and a little scandalous. It was then that Katherine reminded her exactly what their living situation was and how none of it was prim and proper and that many of the people she had grown up around already found their house scandalous. Why would having a housekeeper act as though she were their aunt make anything any worse?

A cheery voice called out from the door “Hi ma, I’m home!”

“Annie, how was school?”

“The teacher is nasty and boring and I have a lot of work to do.”

The stove had long since been clean and when Greta looked at the clock, she realised that Jack and Katherine would be home soon. She had reminisced several hours away.

“Well take your coat off, put your things away and start on that work.”

She went to the pantry to check the stocks in there – she would have to get some more flour and eggs. Oh, and restock the vegetables. She could get Jack to get them while she cooked dinner.

She returned to the kitchen to start chopping the vegetables they had left so she would have less to do later when she would have at least one boy to distract her. Annie was well into the math work that she had to do and looked as though she was doing well without help and so Greta went back to her memories.

Not one unkind word had been said to her while she had been working here, no shouting (other than from overexcited Newsies) and no pain. It certainly hadn’t been anything like what her marriage had made her fear it would be. However, she was yet to meet this Charles and by the sound of it he was a very nice man but she still couldn’t shake the feeling that he would cause trouble for her.

The veg was finished so she put them under some water from the sink. Next job was to repair those torn clothes that Katherine had tried and failed to fix.

Annie had finished her homework by the time Greta was halfway through her pile of mending and she was promptly told to start the stew that had been planned. As her mother was still in the kitchen she could answer any questions the girl had and guide her through the process if needed.

Jack and Katherine had barely walked in when Greta sent him back out to get the groceries she needed before the shop closed. Katherine took off her coat and sat down at the table, entertaining the other girls with her stories of the day. Eventually Kat left to write a little and Annie had a question about the food so Greta stood by her at the stove, walking her through the next steps she had to take when she heard heavy footsteps coming up to the kitchen door.

Those were not Jack’s steps.

As the door opened, Greta wheeled, brandishing her wooden spoon and tucking Annie behind her skirts. A man stood in the doorway, tall and broad and very obviously strong. She knew what a man that strong could do. 

Even though she was terrified, she faced him head on, trying to put on a brave face.

\- - - -

Charles wasn’t expecting there to be a strange woman in the kitchen of Katherine’s house. His memory dragged up a telephone conversation with Kat a week ago, what was it? Oh yes, she had employed a woman to be her live in housekeeper. She had brought her daughter with her, along with what had to be decades of abuse lining her soul. At the moment, she was clearly terrified of him, that was clear by how she was keeping her daughter firmly behind her. Yet she was facing him down, facing the invisible threat she felt.

He would like her

She had heard “Madam, I am Charles Montgomery. I believe you are Greta?” before she realised that he had stepped into the kitchen and as far away from both her and the door as he could manage. Was he giving her a way out? That was unexpected.

“You would be correct. I am Greta, I have been working here for a week. Will you be living here?”

“Yes. I look forward to getting to know you better.”

\- - - - 

Jack was leaning on the doorframe, watching the first interactions between people who would soon become like an aunt and uncle and he knew, just knew that everything would work out right eventually. For him and all of his brothers.

“Well Greta, now you’s met everyone, d’ya think you’s gonna stay?”

Greta jumped a little when she realised that he had come in, but there was no hesitation before her answer. 

“Yes, Mr Jack, I believe I will.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient with this update, it has been sitting in various stages of completeness since I finished the last chapter. I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
